BALLOT MEASURE EFFORT FUNDED LAS VEGAS TRIPS

Sacramento 
A state lawmaker from Los Angeles has taken four trips to Las Vegas to take in marquee prizefights and host glitzy fundraisers, in one case handing out boxing gloves with his autograph to Sacramento lobbyists in attendance.

Sen. Kevin de León didn’t pay for the jet setting, hotels, entertainment and gloves out of his own pocket or his campaign treasury.

Instead, he tapped a separate account he established to support and oppose ballot measures — committees subject to less-restrictive rules that are being used by some legislators to regain the freedom of old-time political hobnobbing.

De León wields considerable power as chairman of the Appropriations Committee, which serves as a gateway for most bills to be considered by the full Senate.

De León’s “Believing in a Better California” committee raised $188,150 and spent $168,385 over the past two years. Just $35,400 — about 21 percent of the money spent — went to help pass or defeat ballot measures, according to a review by U-T Watchdog.

Much of the remainder went to consultants, lawyers and toward tickets, airfare and hotels for the high-dollar fundraisers, including fights between boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Márquez, Timothy Bradley and Shane Mosley.

John Shallman, campaign strategist for de León, said the fundraisers are successful and help push an important agenda.

“Senator de León is one of the hardest-working legislators in Sacramento, and because of that, he is successful, both in passing big bills that benefit the people of California, but also in raising funds to improve our state,” Shallman said.

Shallman said de León’s efforts help push back against a political fundraising system dominated by billionaires.

“He won’t apologize for using the funds to help balance the state’s budget, to prevent cuts to education and to keep kids out of gangs,” Shallman said.

De León, a Democrat, was not the only lawmaker to use ballot measure committees for other purposes.

Assemblyman Isadore Hall’s “Inspiration and Hope for California” committee raised and spent about $55,000 over the past two years. None of that went to ballot measures. Instead, the Los Angeles Democrat made a $2,500 contribution to Janna Zurita, who defeated an eight-year incumbent to win a seat on the Compton City Council.

Hall also charged the committee $6,800 to attend a seminar at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Mass. In December, Hall touted the seminar to the L.A. Watts Times, saying, “As a lifelong student, I am always looking for ways to improve my leadership and management abilities.”

He declined to comment through a spokesman.

Phillip Ung, a policy advocate with California Common Cause, said there are few restrictions on how politicians can spend ballot measure committee money.

“These committees have become political slush funds that they spend on whatever they want while raising the money outside of contribution limits,” Ung said.

Candidate-controlled ballot measure committees have existed for decades alongside the candidates’ other committees.

One key difference is that there are no limits on how much money politicians can raise for their ballot measure committees. That has created several instances over the years of the committees receiving $1 million or more contributions from individual sources.